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Dirty hands, ripped gloves: 20th LRS VMF

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sean Sweeney
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
On-call 24 hours a day seven days a week, the 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintenance flight is ready for emergency repairs at a moment’s notice.

With dirty hands and ripped gloves, a normal for day-to-day operations, the VMF makes sure the 20th Fighter Wing has every vehicle it needs to accomplish the mission.

“We take care of all the vehicles on base,” said Tech. Sgt. Cody McDonald, 20th LRS VMF noncommissioned officer in charge. “We coordinate the work in the main shop, make sure everyone is doing what they need to do and just keep the fleet going.”

The VMF also has a team of specialized Airmen who are in charge on maintaining the operational readiness of the 20th Civil Engineer Squadron firetrucks and the 20th LRS refueling trucks.

For a flight of 37, only 24 of which are mechanics, maintaining the operability of 468 vehicles can cause some challenges.

“The most challenging part is just keeping the vehicles going,” said McDonald. “We have a lot of different assets so getting parts, taking care of parts, even training can cause difficulties, but nothing is really a challenge when you have good people working for you.”

However maintaining all of the vehicles on base would not be possible without the help of the vehicle fleet management and analysis section of this unit, who are responsible for tracking and scheduling all of the required maintenance.

“We control the fleet,” said Master Sgt. Jaquelin McCord, 20th LRS fleet management and analysis section chief. “We manage 468 vehicles. We make sure all of the units can complete their mission with the vehicles we have available. We make sure all of the scheduled maintenance gets done like oil changes and keep track of warranties because those save a lot of money.”

McCord also added that they are responsible for managing government vehicles after they have been in an accident.

The Airmen of this shop do more than just fix and manage vehicles, they enable all of the other units on base to successfully and safely accomplish their mission by providing them tools necessary for the jobs at hand.

“We make sure the units have what they need to complete their mission,” said McCord. “Each unit has their own mission, security forces has to man the gates and patrol the base. We have to make sure (the flightline) has tow vehicles so if a jet breaks down they can move them. If the refuelers didn’t have vehicles to refuel the jets - I mean that’s the main mission here at Shaw is flightline operations - so if someone is not there to properly manage them and inspect them, the vehicles are going to break down and missions are going to fail.”

The efforts of this shop may not be seen by the Airmen immediately, however their hard work does not go unnoticed.

“Once in a while we will get commanders calling over here thanking us,” said McCord. “Knowing that you are a part of the bigger picture is pretty rewarding.”

No matter what challenge may be thrown at the 20th LRS VMF, they will be ready to ensure the wheels keep turning and Team Shaw can get the mission done.

“The most rewarding part about my job is being able to keep the mission going,” said McDonald. “Without vehicles a lot of people cannot do their job, so being able to see what we do every day, being out here fixing vehicles is probably the most rewarding part of it.”